Rhythm

I drafted this sitting in my new house with my feet propped up on a cardboard box, taking advantage of the only available outlet I have in the house now that my fridge is plugged into the other one.   I'm sending it sitting on the ground outside the free internet cafe in town in between co-teaching at the primary school and running an English Corner at the high school.

 

Last night, my night consisted of the following: come home from a 7 AM-5 PM day in the schools, try to make and eat dinner before all the neighbors and kids start to come over and talk to me and make me feel awkward eating my own dinner in front of them (since they so often feed me), fail at the former endeavor thanks to three kids sitting in my kitchen and telling me stories about going to the river and catching shrimp and fish with spears (which I can’t wait to learn and which they have promised to teach me), plan a Sunday pizza party with the same neighborhood kids, hear my neighbor get home who today filled in the channel in front of my house and fixed my piping just because he’s nice like that, make  neighbor and his wife coffee and tea (and secretly scarf down my dinner while making said refreshments), take a break from drinking coffee to watch my other neighbors chase an animal distantly related to a skunk out of a tree, finish coffee and tea amid more storytelling and musing with aforementioned friendly  next door neighbors, decide to put off doing dishes in buckets until the morning when I won’t have to do it by flashlight, and lock up for the night.  

So there is a glance of my rhythm, which is what I do practically daily.  If I'm not hanging out with my neighbors or keeping my house free of dust and bugs and dirty dishes in my free time, I head out with umbrella and water bottle in hand and see who I run into in town or who I haven't visited in a week.  Between work, which is heavy (I work with teachers in the primary, middle, and high school), and staying in touch with my friends and neighbors, my days are full.  If I don't eat at home I often get offered food at other people's houses.  If I don't have something to do on a weekend, chances are some family will invite me to their house, to their visit their family in another province, or to take an impromtu trip to a nearby river or beach.  In spite of what may seem like monotony within the system, and in spite of frustrations that come daily, I can't complain.  I have good people around me and so much to do.  I'm loving it.